The present invention is directed to devices for measuring cervical dilation.
In the early stages of labor, the doctor monitors cervical dilation to determine how far labor has advanced. Dilation monitoring is typically performed by inserting two fingers and noting how far they can be extended laterally.
Needless to say, this type of measurement is far from repeatable. Even if a given doctor comes to recognize different degrees of dilation by feel, he cannot reliably communicate that degree of dilation to another doctor without some objective scale. To overcome this shortcoming--i.e., to provide a way to assess dilation by means of an objective scale--devices for measuring cervical dilation have been proposed, but they have not attracted widespread use. The reason seems to be that the patient finds insertion of foreign objects more objectionable than insertion of the doctor's fingers.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to permit an objective dilation measurement without the objectionable insertion of foreign objects.